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Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616)
Real Name: Dr. Nathaniel Essex Nicknames: None known Aliases: Nathan Milbury, Michael Milbury, Arnold Bocklin, Dr. Windsor, Pale Man, Nosferatu, Senator Steven Shaffran (impersonation), Edmund Atkinson (impersonation), Apocalypse (impersonation) Other Current Aliases: None known Status Occupation: Mutant-supremacist, geneticist Legal Status: As Essex, citizen of England during the 1800s in poor standing with his scientific peers. Identity: Secret Marital Status: Widower Group Affiliation: Employer of Marauders, Nasty Boys, former ally of Apocalypse, undercover in Weapon X Program. Base of Operations: Many bases throughout the world including his orphanage. Origin Origin: 19th century England. Place of Birth: London, England Known Relatives: Rebecca Essex (wife, deceased), Adam Stanislaus Essex (son, deceased), unnamed child (deceased), Nate Grey (X-Man, creation, deceased), Madelyne Pryor (creation, deceased) First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #221 History Nathaniel Essex was a biologist in Victorian England who developed advanced theories on human evolution. Obsessed with Darwin’s theory of evolution, though he felt Darwin and his contemporaries were shackled by too many moral constraints. While pursuing his own research in 1859, he discovered that humanity was undergoing increasing mutation, due to what he called “Essex Factors” in the human genome. His theories were mocked, making him bitter; his son’s death (at the age of four from numerous birth defects, including crooked bones & hemophilia) drove him deeper into his work. He approached many groups in search of funding, including the Hellfire Club, though all turned him down. He hired a group of thugs, whom he named Marauders, to kidnap people off the streets of London so he could perform experiments on them; he even went so far as to dig up his dead son and experiment on him. A geneticist of unparalleled genius, he foresaw the coming mutations that would transform mankind. However, his unorthodox experiments resulted in his ouster from the Royal Society and caused his wife to shun him. These rejections led him to ally himself with Apocalypse, an immortal mutant who has witnessed virtually the whole of human history. Apocalypse transformed Essex into the ageless being known as Mr. Sinister. A time-traveling Cyclops and Jean Grey tried to prevent Essex’s transformation but failed. In fact, Madame Sanctity of the Askani had sent Cyclops and Jean to the past to ensure the transformation, as Sinister was necessary for the birth of Cable. Cyclops & Jean also freed many of Sinister’s captives, two of whom (a man named Oscar Stamp and an apparently mute boy named Daniel) traveled to America and took the name Summers. With his new abilities and dispassionate outlook, Essex took a new name—Sinister, the last word his wife spoke to him as she died, after discovering the horrors he’d been engaged in (the stress also caused her to miscarry their unnamed child). Apocalypse’s first command was to create a plague to destroy the weak of the world, but Sinister would not do it—he had clarity of purpose, and destruction for its own sake was not part of it. The plague Sinister created attacked only Apocalypse, driving him into hibernation. In 1882, Sinister was present at Darwin’s funeral, reveling in the irony that the man who was once vilified was being buried in Westminster Abbey, the highest church of England. Soon after, he left for The United States. Sinister has conducted numerous experiments in his time. He operated an obstetrics clinic in New York in the late 19th century and performed side research on society's deviants. Named Nathan Millbury (an alias based off the name of the manor of his former wife); here he had unrestricted access to an abundance of generational genetic material to study, including that of the adult Daniel Summers and his wife, Amanda Mueller. As Dr. Millbury, he influenced the work of Herbert Wyndham, the man who became the High Evolutionary. It was in 1891 that Sinister came across another pair of time traveling mutants from the future, the X-Man Gambit and a shape changer called Courier. Using his scientific equipment, Sinister managed to replicate the shape shifting abilities of Courier; before that, he’d hidden his pale complexion with common makeup. Gambit needed help getting back to the present, and to do so had Sinister re-implant a piece of tissue into his brain. Once the piece was restored, Gambit’s powers increased exponentially and he was able to return himself and Courier to the present. A century later, Gambit and Sinister would meet again. In 1915, Essex went back to England and granted Jacob Shaw, who would become Sebastian Shaw's father, the ability to shapeshift. Jacob was the brother of Esau Shaw, and was extremely envious of his brother’s better lot in life, such as having been recruited into the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle by Sir Waltham Pierce, seemingly an ancestor of Donald Pierce. Jacob used his newfound powers to imitate Sir Waltham Pierce, then killed his brother Esau. Jacob planned to then take on Esau’s place, but first he shapeshifted into a woman and planned to kill Waltham. Before he could finish his deed, however, Union Jack—Montgomery Falsworth, a friend of Esau’s—stepped in and accused Pierce of sedition against the crown and the murder of Esau. Before Waltham could answer, Jacob shot at Union Jack, then ran off into the night. What Sinister hoped to obtain from aiding Jacob Shaw remains a mystery. In the 1920s, Essex encountered a man named Herbert Edgar Wyndham, who dreamed of doing what Sinister had already accomplished—breaking the genetic code for human DNA. Essex worked side by side with Wyndham, who would later become better known as the High Evolutionary. By 1928 Wyndham had begun crude experimentations on lab animals with radiation exposure with little success. During a trip to an international conference on genetics in Geneva, Switzerland, Wyndham suddenly felt ill. Stumbling out into the street he met the hypnotic gaze of a man in a top hat and coat, shrouded in darkness. From this stranger Wyndham was handed a gift that should not exist in that time—a blueprint for breaking the genetic code. Whether Wyndham's benefactor is Sinister or not remains unrevealed. In the 1930s, Essex spent some time in California, gathering subjects for his experiments; while in Los Angeles, he met and fell in love with radio comedienne Faye Livingstone, though he never admitted his feelings. Discovering his secret laboratory one night, Essex confronted her with the truth—she carried the x-factor in her genes, and her offspring would produce special children, children that would be more than human. Horrified, Faye tried to leave, but Essex kept her prisoner. Months passed, filled with degrading examinations; affected pity gave way to foul contempt. Essex broke her in mind and spirit, and made her (not let her) see behind the illusion that was Nathan Essex. Then, in the middle of a raging storm one night, Essex flung the door open and released her, without speaking or gesturing. In time, Faye was brought to the Carlysle Nursing Home in San Diego, California, her mind & body falling to cancer. Due to her love for Essex, Livingstone had never married, and never had children. The offspring Sinister so eagerly anticipated never came to exist. Once a year, a Mister Essex would come and visit her, though he would never admit to anyone (not even himself) why. Genesis forced Sinister to confront both her and himself about the relationship, but Sinister refused, adamantly maintaining that she was nothing more than a useless husk to him. After sharing a telepathic dance with Essex, Faye died in his arms. In the 1940s Sinister worked with the Nazis, earning the nickname “Nosferatu,” due both to his pale visage and his habit of taking blood from everyone; he frightened even the Nazis. He often gave children candy in exchange for their blood as a means of bribery. During this time, he created Experiment N2, a clone of Namor the Sub-Mariner, which could forcibly suck the water out of Namor and use it to douse the android Human Torch’s flames. To Sinister’s considerable surprise, though, Captain America was able to defeat N2. It was during this period in 1944, Essex came across a man named John Greycrow, who would become Scalphunter, his first “new” Marauder. In 1946, a Dr. Nathan Milbury (possibly Sinister in disguise) was involved with Project: Black Womb, a secret government project headed by Amanda Mueller & aided by Alexander Ryking (father of Carter Ryking) and Kurt Marko (father of Cain Marko), and (possibly) Irene Adler (the blind precognitive known as Destiny), which studied, but did not alter, thousands of children, mostly mutants, in post-natal holding tanks. Brian Xavier (father of Charles Xavier) was a colleague of Ryking and Marko at the project, which was based in Almagordo, New Mexico, but whether he was involved with Project: Black Womb remains unclear. For decades, Sinister secretly observed the development of mutant children as they grew (many of which had been “earmarked” by Project: Black Womb) in the State Home for Foundlings in Omaha, Nebraska. He cruelly manipulated their childhood developmental processes and even tried to control their adult lives so they might become his minions. The hero Cyclops was among his subjects; one of Scott’s roommates in the orphanage was named Nate, and another alias of Sinister’s was Mike Milbury, neighbor to Scott’s grandparents (Phillip & Deborah Summers), in Alaska. It was from his laboratory under the orphanage that many evils issued, and most likely will issue. At some point, Sinister spliced mutant genes from Alex Summers into Ahmet Abdol, who became the Living Monolith, able to absorb cosmic energies and use them to grow to enormous size. Sinister is responsible for the Morlock Massacre, ordering his band of Marauders to kill all of the sewer-dwelling mutants. It was later revealed that Gambit was the one who had assembled Sinister’s Marauders. Gambit did this, and many other tasks, for Sinister because he owed the geneticist a huge debt. When Gambit’s powers first manifested, they were largely uncontrollable. He heard through underworld contacts of Sinister, and approached him, asking for help. Sinister agreed, and removed a portion of Gambit’s brain, which reduced Gambit’s power but allowed him a greater degree of control over his abilities. In exchange, Gambit had to perform many tasks for him, such as assemble the Marauders for the Morlock Massacre. It is possible that Sinister recognized Gambit from a century prior, and agreed to help him in order to insure the series of events that lead to Gambit (and Courier) going back in time—which allowed Sinister to gain Courier’s powers—occurred. As for the reason behind the Morlock Massacre—due to various twistings of time and dimensions, the Dark Beast from the Age of Apocalypse timeline arrived in the mainline reality twenty years prior. Many of the Morlocks were experiments of the Dark Beast’s. Since the Dark Beast had learned genetics from his reality's version of Sinister, and that Sinister’s methods were similar to those mainline reality's Sinister, Sinister could see his “signature” in the Morlocks. To prevent further unauthorized usage of his theories, he had the Marauders wipe out the Morlocks. He considered a similar course of action for the Genoshan mutates, who were created by the Sugar Man using his Age of Apocalypse counterpart's technology as well, but decided against it because the process had turned the mutates infertile; consequently, he didn’t consider them a contamination of his work. Though some of his Marauders died during the Massacre, Sinister’s mastery of genetics and cloning technology has enabled him to recreate his Marauders again and again and again. Sinister is obsessed with the Summers genetic line, which includes Cyclops and Havok, and has taken a proprietary interest in the family because Daniel Summers is a direct ancestor of Scott & Alex Summers. For a time, Sinister continued to advance his master plan to serve Apocalypse (and his own ends), but in general prefers to let bloodlines breed naturally (rather than hastily transforming them) in order to produce the most racially-supreme beings. Sinister eventually believed -- or realized -- that Scott Summers’ and Jean Grey’s mingled genelines would create a mutant of unparalleled power, one that could destroy Apocalypse and thus free him from the yoke of that ancient tyrant. To this end, he created Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey, though he was disappointed that the clone manifested no powers at adolescence and he considered the whole project a waste of time and effort. Upon “Jean’s” death on the Blue Area of the Moon (at the culmination of the Dark Phoenix Saga), the Phoenix Force left her body and entered Madelyne’s, much to Sinister’s delight. He arranged a set of false memories for her, and left her where Scott would eventually encounter her. Eventually the two wed and produced a child, Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. Madelyne convinced Scott to move with her back to Alaska and live out their lives there, a subconscious suggestion implanted by Sinister—the remote location made it easier for him to study and if need be abduct the child. Sinister eventually took the child, then lost it to Madelyne (now the Goblin Queen), briefly regained it (following her death), then lost it to Cyclops, who blasted him with a supercharged Optic Blast and reduced him to a skeleton (X-Factor #39). It is unknown how Sinister came back from that—it may well have been a clone he had sent in his place for that battle, or he may have teleported away at the last second and placed a body in his place as Cyclops’ blast struck or he may have used his shapeshifting abilities to simulate his death (a later engagement with Cyclops showed that his optic blast can do little to no permanent harm to Sinister who can simply reform himself after being hit) —but return he did, now safe under the cover of presumed death. Before Sinister could re-claim young Nathan, however, Apocalypse awoke. Sensing the threat posed to him, he infected Nathan with a technorganic virus which threatened to consume him. The only hope of saving him was for Scott & Jean to give him to a woman known as the Askani, who spirited him away to the future. Nathan survived, and came to be the man better known as Cable. Later, a group of mutants known as the Nasty Boys appeared, working alongside an evil duplicate of James Madrox. The evil Madrox wished to kill the true Madrox to ensure his continued independence and sought Sinister’s help in doing so; he sent the Nasty Boys to aid Evil Madrox by fighting X-Factor. Eventually, the Evil Madrox was re-absorbed by the original Madrox, and subsumed into him. Meanwhile, Quicksilver’s powers were being secretly overcharged by Senator Steven Shaffran, who was trying to discredit X-Factor in order to spur on his political career. Unknown to Shaffran, though, Sinister took the senator’s appearance and revealed Shaffran’s deeds to the team. Shaffram later confronted Sinister, and planned to kill him, but only succeeded in killing himself when his bullet ricocheted off of Sinister's armor. Later, Sinister sent his Nasty Boys to track down a rogue Malice, who was trying to break free of Sinister. In an earlier confrontation with X-Factor, Malice had possessed Polaris, but Polaris’s powers prevented the possessing entity from departing Lorna Dane’s body—something Sinister knew would happen. Malice did eventually break out of Dane’s body, and was determined to escape Sinister’s control—for a being used to existence as an incorporeal energy being, entrapment in a physical body, even one as powerful as Polaris’s, was Hell for her. A massive fracas between Sinister and the Nasty Boys, Malice, and Havok and Polaris broke out. Both Alex and Lorna tried to absorb Malice (in order to prevent the other from being possessed), but the strain wound up fatally disrupting Malice’s energy form (as planned by Sinister). Seeing as the conflict had no meaning anymore, Sinister and his minions withdrew. Sinister unwittingly unleashed the Legacy Virus upon the Earth, a plague engineered by Stryfe, a clone of Cable. Sinister revealed to Cyclops Stryfe’s trick, and mentioned Cyclops’ “brothers,” something Cyclops picked up on and dubbed by many fans as the “third Summers brother”—though, technically, it wasn’t said that the brother was a Summers. (Speculation abounds as to who that third brother is, though most evidence—and some quasi-official statements—indicate Adam X the X-Treme, is that brother. It was theorized that Adam-X is the product of the rape of Cyclops’ mother by the former Shi’ar emperor D’Ken, thus making Adam-X the illegitimate heir to the throne of the Shi’ar Empire. However, the third Summers brother has been revealed to be Vulcan, who was born at the time in which Christopher and Katherine Summers were prisoners of the Shi’ar. In any event, Sinister did not mention a number of brothers, thus Adam-X could still be another brother of Cyclops, Havok and Vulcan, though not technically a Summers. Sinister later took in the mutant Threnody, and used her unique powers to track down victims of the Legacy Virus, which he could then study and work on to develop a cure. Moira MacTaggart, long-time ally to the X-Men and one of the top genetic immunologists on the planet, eventually developed a cure for the Virus. This cure was released thanks to the sacrifice of the mutant Colossus. Sinister offered to clone him to his fellow X-men as a form of gratitude (though he may have had ulterior motives), but they refused. When the High Evolutionary activated a satellite that stripped all Homo superior of their mutations, Essex, who had come to support his student's work, revealed himself as Sinister and modified the beam to mutate every human on Earth, hoping to create an entire planet of lab subjects. Soon after, the mysterious Neo attacked many of Sinister's facilities. Fortunately for Sinister, Cable also had a deep grudge against Apocalypse, and when Apocalypse merged with Cyclops at the climax of The Twelve story arc, Cable and Jean Grey tracked the merged being back to Apocalypse’s birthplace of Egypt. Jean separated Apocalypse’s astral form from Cyclops’ body, and Cable sundered the freed spirit, fulfilling his destiny as written by Sinister. This gave Sinister the freedom he’d long sought, as Apocalypse had always kept him on a tight leash. While Sinister has succeeded in his quest to eliminate Apocalypse, this has by no means ended his task. Mister Sinister desired research above all else in his world of genetics; bloodlines and gene pools are his chess pieces. Apocalypse was a threat to this work. Now without hindrances, Sinister can truly begin his work in genetics, no matter the cost in lives or suffering. By eliminating Sinister’s former master, the X-Men may have unleashed an even greater threat to the world. Sinister continues his research into mutant genetics, and recently reappeared in the pages of the new Weapon X series, in the guise of Dr. Robert Windsor. As Windsor, Sinister supposedly helped a number of prisoners escape from Weapon X's concentration camp Neverland. However, Sinister merely took these mutants to his personal labs to perform experiments on them. At the same time, Sinister created a group of superpowered beings called The Children, which he was forced to give up to John Sublime, after Sabretooth killed the first of the Children: Hans. As recently revealed, Sinister also had a history with the 'mad monk' Grigory Rasputin. He has been tracking his descendants as the 'Pale Man', most notably Mikhail Rasputin and Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) He paired with Mikhail to kill off all of his living relatives to allow the essensce of Grigory Rasputin to be concentrated in one host and become reincarnate. After the brothers fought Sinister’s influence, it was discovered that the reason he wanted Grigory in power was to stabilize his own failing abilities. Sinister admitted that he was weakened—being unable to shapeshift or teleport and actually sustaining injuries from Colossus’ attack—but vowed vengeance for when he did have his abilities restored. Mister Sinister’s had a small, yet significant, presence in the divergent House of M reality. While remaining a physiologicaly altered geneticist, this Sinister was a quite genteel, friendly person—even to the point of offering the visiting trio of Deadpool, Cannonball and Siryn a (drugged) barbecue dinner. Sinister was apparently rejected from society for experimenting on mutants, which was taboo under Magneto’s rule, and lived on a secluded Nebraska farm. Despite the difference in personality, this Sinister was also responsible for the birth of an infant Cable, who Sinister believed was a potential savior for the world of the House of M. Beyond a one-panel appearance in House of M: The Day After one-shot (not identified as Sinister by name, but his facial markings were unmistakable), Mister Sinister has not made his presence known. Also unknown is how his 100 years of genetic sampling reacted to the effects of the Decimation. Sinister enhanced himself with mutant DNA samples, which could have been affected by the Scarlet Witch "no more mutants" decreet. Characteristics Height: 6'5" Weight: 285 lbs (130 kg) Eyes: Shining Red, no visible pupils Hair: Black Skin: White Unusual Features: Red diamond upon forehead. Powers Strength Level: Sinister is able to lift/press about 10 tons. Known Powers: Following genetic alteration by Apocalypse, Sinister possesses a wide array of powers. Over the years, Sinister has used the genetic material of other mutants to grant himself a vast array of powers. Cellular Shapeshifting: ability to control every molecule of his body, allowing him to assume the form of any one he wishes. He once reduced himself into a semi-liquid state. Regenerative Healing Factor: Mister Sinister is able to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. Sinister can fully heal from injuries that result in massive tissue damage or loss such as multiple gunshot wounds, slashes, puncture wounds, and severe burns within a matter of minutes. Superhuman Stamina: Mister Sinister's muscles produce considerably less fatigue toxins than the muscles of ordinary humans. He can exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to affect him. Superhuman Strength possesses superhuman strength, which may be a product of his shapeshifting. Superhuman Reflexes: Mister Sinister's reflexes are enhanced to levels that are beyond the human body's natural limits. Telepathy: He can read minds and project his own thoughts into the minds of others within a radius of 250 miles (on Earth). With extreme effort he can greatly extend that radius. *'Mental Paralysis': ability to induce temporary mental or physical paralysis *'Mind Control': capable of controlling the minds of others but only one at a time and if the target is in her physical presence. *'Dilate Power': ability to mentally paralyze a foe he's touching and the ability to psionically "turn off" the superpowers of any mutant. Telekinesis: possesses telekinetic abilities enabling him to levitate and manipulate living beings, inanimate objects, and to some extent energy, psionically. He can “lift” as much as 10 tons of weight and possibly even more and can enable himself to “fly” at great speed. Concussive Blasts: firing blasts of concussive force from his hands or from the dimaond-shaped scarlet mark on his forehead. He was believed to possess the power of teleportation, but it was revealed this was not an innate ability, but a function of his tesseract headquarters. Known Abilities: Sinister is extremely intelligent, a genius and a geneticist of the highest order, able to predict genetic mutations and splice DNA. (It is quite probable his powers are the result of self-experimentation - his shapeshifitng power is due to a procedure he performed on himself with help from a time-traveling Gambit.) He can also produce large amounts of clones; he has done so with all his Marauders, and with Jean Grey. He at one time possessed tissue samples of thousands of people, dating possibly as far back as the 1860s, including several American Presidents. He is a master surgeon, having excised a portion of Gambit's brain, and then later restored it (although from Sinister's point of view, he restored a portion of Gambit's brain and later excised it, as Gambit was travelling back in time when the restoration was completed, possibly a Predestination paradox), and a skilled mechanical engineer, having created devices that seem taken from the tales of Jules Verne. He possesses a good deal of knowledge in psychology, and is a skilled manipulator. Many of his bases seem to have some quasi-biological properties, able to "grow" tentacles from a surface to hold a prisoner at Sinister's mental commands. Personality: Sinister is a ruthless man who has no compunctions about ruining the lives of others to get what he wants. He prefers to operate in the shadows, letting lackeys and unsuspecting dupes do his dirty work. He is arrogant, confident, and expects total obedience from his underlings. He is known to have collaborated with members of the Nazi party. Miscellaneous Equipment: No known equipment. Transportation: No known transportation. Weapons: No known weapons. Notes in the X-Men animated series]] * Mister Sinister appears in the X-Men Animated series and the leader of the Nasty Boys Related Articles * Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) * Cyclops (Scott Summers) * Jean Grey * Madelyne Pryor * Mister Sinister (HoM) * Mister Sinister (AoA) See Also * Character Gallery: * Appearances of * Quotations by External Links * References * Marvel Directory ---- Category:Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Secret Identity Category:Bad Characters Category:Red Eyes Category:Black Hair Category:White Skin Category:Modern Age Category:Widowed Characters Category:English